Dupe

[RamboLiberal]

Fourteen months into a campaign that has the feel of a movement, Sen. Barack Obama has collided with the gritty political traditions of Philadelphia, where ward bosses love their candidates, but also expect them to pay up.

The dispute centers on the dispensing of "street money," a long-standing Philadelphia ritual in which candidates deliver cash to the city's Democratic operatives in return for getting out the vote.

Flush with payments from well-funded campaigns, the ward leaders and Democratic Party bosses typically spread out the cash in the days before the election, handing $10, $20 and $50 bills to the foot soldiers and loyalists who make up the party's workforce.

It is all legal -- but Obama's people are telling the local bosses he won't pay.

That sets up a culture clash, pitting a candidate who promises to transform American politics against the realities of a local political system important to his presidential hopes. Pennsylvania holds its primary April 22.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-streetmoney11apr11,1,6250467.story

So Obama's taking the high road and it could cost him. With "Fast Eddie" Rendell and Mayor Nutter in her corner you can be sure the Clinton campaign is spreading the $$$$s while she stiffs some vendors in other states!